The Scandal
by luminask
Summary: What happens when you push Fall out boy into an unwanted scandal? This is my first try after about a year of not writing anything. Please be nice to me. Als. english is my second language and I was translating this from the Slovak original I wrote. Grammar is not exactly my best friend but I tried my best. Thank you for understanding. :) Please enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

/the foreplay/

„Boys! Boys! Come in and sit!" Hearing such enthusiasm and joy from a music producer could only mean one thing- trouble. Patrick, Pete, Andy and Joe sank into the chairs, which were just comfortable enough to make you feel like a big shot..but also uncomfortable enough to remind you this might be your last chance to sit in them. The producer looked at each of them carefully, his eyes clearly showing calculations going on inside of his head. Calculation that they would most likely not like.

„You are big boys now so I am going to be honest with you." He said with s smile that would make anybody cringe a bit. „Your last album? Amazing! BUT...the sales are not as good as one would expect from you. We bet a lot of money on your trusted fanbase, but it HAS been 5 years and it has slimed down. Quite drasticaly. Besides it is easier to download something illegaly these days. Your cute faces are not enough. We need something to make people talk about you. Create a buzz, make them wanna wear your merchendise and attend concerts. We need a scandal. So...Im listening." He smiled again, leaning closer to them, resting his arms on the table. Nobody dared to look up. Pete secretly envied Patrick for wearing a hat, that covered his face in shadow. The silence draged on. 5 minutes...10...after 15 minutes and 44 seconds a loud CLAP echoed through the room and the producer smiled even wider.

„YOU." He pointed at Patrick, who was studying his nails as if they were the most interesting thing ever. „Your nails, will not save you buddy. Look at me, pretty face. I heard you have a new girlfriend." Patrick finally rised his eyes and he frowned.

„Well yeah. But she is not really new. We just managed to keep it a secret." He mumbled looking out the large window.

„Old, new, new new...who cares. The public knows nothing about you two. Which means that if we presented your relationship just right...it would bring a LOT of attention. If my information is correct..." he shut up for a second looking at the papers on his desk. Like he could not know her name. „It is the singer from the Breaking Point. Natalie. Am I right?" the smile turned into a wolfish grinn.

„Yes. But she does not need any scandals, she just got out of several years of eating disorder and..." he was cut off in the midle of the sentence by the producers expression.

„I was not really asking you pretty boy. We already talked it over with their manager. Tonight, you will get an email with exact instructions about the upcoming scandal. I advise you to obey them. Otherwise...both bands could find themselves without a label to take care of them." That was their sign to leave. They stood up and dragged themselves out of the office and into the van waiting outside.

Two days later, both bands were sitting in a flat above a recording studio. Patrick was sitting in an armchair, Natali sitting above him on the neck rest, legs resting on Trick, her fingers combing through his hair. Pete was sitting between her bandmates- brother Peter and bass player Michael, all tree of them cooperating on changing the strings on Peters guitar...simply because they needed something to do. Pete was comanding Michael as he pulled the strings through tiny holes in the back, then handed them over to Peter who always locked them into place. Joe, Andy and Kyle were busy playing poker and did not really pay attention to what was happening. There was a laptop opened at the coffee table, and everyone sitting around it tried to ignore it but it was like a stopming elephant in the room. The email they sent them was 5 pages long. The scandal was all planed out.

„This is ridiculous. I have never seen such booming comeback from anybody and trust me in our country we had a lot of them." Murmured Natali with a strong accent. The americans looked at her and she just frowned. „Please stop acting like you cant understand me when I dont try to speak with british or american accent." She softly nuged Patricks head with her knee and jumped off of the armchair. She almost twisted her ankle landing, but nobody even bothered to try and help her. This was just her. Always too clumsy unless she was in high heels.

„Well it is not exactly pleasant..." started Pete and this time all three of them Peter, Michael and Natali shot him a death glare. They were from Slovakia and have not spent enough time in America to catch the accent, still enjoyed conversation in their native language whenever they could. But the showbiznis makes you paranoid so whenever the americans found them speaking in what they called jibberish, they assumed that they were gossiping about them. And ever since they were forced to change their drummer the kids from Slovakia enjoyed very little of their mother language.

„I still think it is stupid." Peter declared, taking his guitar to tune it properly.

„It is not really. Quite common in the showbiznis. I just never thought we would be one of the bands that get their strings pulled this way." Pete sighed looking at Patrick who hasnt said a word for the past hour. He was just leaning on Natali letting her play with his hair. „TRICK!" pete yelled and the singer slowly opened his eyes.

„What am I supposed to say? Not my fault they expected the impossible!" he said offended. Natali started scrolling through the email, frowning at certian parts but then she looked up.

„Ok. I AM willing to do this on one condition. Or maybe two." She scratched her hair and looked Patrick in the eyes. „First: It can not compromise the future of our band. Second: If things get too serious we quit. I dont care if it will be in the first phase or the 20th. We just quit. I refuse to argue with you because of this." She pointed at the screen. Patrick just nodded and they all got back to their activities the atmosphere a bit lighter now that they were assured of her participation.


	2. The Scandal 2

The night was here. She sat behind the judges table, long hair swept back into a complicated hairstyle, hart sinking somewhere to the earth centre. They had to wait for a month before the oportunity came. The instructions were quite clear- start a fight, as publicly as possible. And what better way to do that than on national TV? This was it. As one of the past winners she was here to judge the new talents on Americas got talent. And the boys were here to start off the show. Motivation for the contestants, entertainment for the audience. Everybody likes a free FOB concert.

The lights went out and everybody shut up as if they had a little switch as well. The enthusiastic voice of comentators sounded through hall asking for big round of applause for the band. Spot lights hit the stage and the first few chords of „Alone together" ripped through the scilence. Then the magic happened. All the people started screaming excitedly, singing along, clapping...making noise. And Natali reached out and slapped the big red button, even though she was not really supposed to- they were not contestants after all. Few people gave her dirty looks and her coleagues in the jury looked as confused as ever. The band ignored her but then she slapped the remaining two buttons and three red eXes were shining above the podium. She did not really need to pretend to be irritated. The song was on radio so often she came to hate it. First just a little bit, now she slapped Patrick everytime he started randomly singing it to himself at home. The crowd was not enthusiastic anymore. They were screaming insults at her. The band on the stage stopped playing and Pete reached over for a mic. „Excuse you? What is your problem?"

„Im so sorry...oh wait...IM NOT. The song has been on the fucking radio non-stop for the past few weeks. I cant stand it. Play something good or get the fuck out. When I heard about your comeback I really expected something much much better." She crossed her arms angrily and stared him down. The atmosphere was thick. Angry people all around her...she felt like she was the one on trial and any second they might start throwing rocks at her. „Are you saying you could do any better? Poor Patrick had to sit through 3 months of your performances on this show and YOU have the athrosity to complain because of one song?" he hugged the tiny singer around shuolders and pulled him closer, as if to comfort him from the trauma of seeing Breaking Point play live for so long. „You got it." She said, her voice completly emotionless, her face painted with huge fake smile. „Play something good. Or get out." She pointed at the closest door marked with bright green exit she could find.

They didnt leave. There was no way in hell they could, or would. The song started over and at the end the whole band flipped her off. She just flipped her hair and smiled at them like a loving mother...who might just chop you up while you sleep. Never the less the boy band left the stage to clear it for the contestants. The whole night Natali was a mean judge, not even the slightest mistake could escape her cruel words. Quite the difference from the qualification rounds where she was the nicest person ever.

After the show she sat in her dressing room for nearly an hour. Somebody helped her untangle the hair, she took off the make-up and looked at herself, eyes almost filled with tears. „Pull it together." She wispered to her reflection, put on make up more suited for being in real world and went out. The scond she stepped out of the door camera flashes blinded her. The questions from reporters were just nonsense mumbling. Like a white noise machine. Somebody was pulling her towards the car as she flashed one smile after another, without actually answering any of their questions. They were shocked, where did the nice girl go? But she didnt explain. The less she said the more they could make up their own theories. And that was what they needed. The safety of car finally hugged her and they were speeding away before the reporters had a chance to realize what happened.


End file.
